What is Open Source Design?

Updated

Open Source Design is a global community of designers, developers, and advocates working to improve the usability of open source software. It connects designers with projects that need them, and it pushes for open design processes and better user experience in open source. The community is relevant if you are a designer looking for open source work, a project maintainer who needs design help, or someone who wants to follow or join open design conversations.

What the community actually does

The site describes its purpose simply: "Good design should be as open as good code." That principle translates into a few concrete activities.

Job board

Open Source Design runs a job board connecting designers with projects that need them. At the time of the site content, it listed 14 design jobs open right now, with 374+ posted by open source projects over the years. Current examples include:

  • Designers for OpenStrap, an open-source fitness app
  • Logo design for Apexdeck
  • Product landing page UI design for chadbox
  • Front-end developer (UI) for Corro, an accessibility-first board and card game platform
  • Illustrator and graphic designer for Corro

Projects can post a job, and there is also a browsable archive of past jobs.

Events and conference design tracks

The community organizes events and conference design tracks. Recurring activity includes:

  • Open Source Design monthly call — every first Wednesday, listed on the community calendar
  • Design tracks at conferences
  • A latest recap noted on the site: help fund the recordings of talks for FOSS Backstage Design 2026

Forum

Conversations happen in the open on a Discourse forum. Everyone can read along, and joining takes a minute. Recent threads visible on the site include:

  • Clean Room open source projects (2 replies)
  • OSS NA 2027: Vancouver BC, Canada (0 replies)
  • Automated (recorded) User Tests? (16 replies)
  • Finding participants for usability tests (7 replies)

The forum is where design discussions, project feedback, and community conversations happen.

Open source design tools

The site points to openly licensed resources and a set of open source design tools, including Penpot, Inkscape, GIMP, Blender, and Krita.

Who it is for

If you are… What Open Source Design offers
A designer A job board, events, and a community to join
A developer or maintainer A way to find designers and post design jobs
New to the community An about page, a manifesto, and a how-to-join guide
Curious about open design An open forum and openly licensed resources

How to get involved

The site outlines a few entry points:

  1. Read about the community, its manifesto, and how to join.
  2. Browse or post on the job board.
  3. Join the monthly community call (first Wednesday) via the community calendar.
  4. Visit the forum to read along or take part.
  5. Explore the open source design tools and resources.

The organization is supported by sponsors, and it organizes design tracks at conferences with affiliates, contributors, and backers.